Cape Town – Japan's finance minister said on Monday that elderly citizens were draining the country's finances and that the only way to solve "the problem" would be to for the elderly to forgo medical treatment and "hurry up and die", said a report.

"Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government," Minister Taro Aso is reported by The Guardian as having said during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die."

According to the report, Aso, who is 72 years old, said he had instructed his family not to authorise any life-prolonging treatment. "I don't need that kind of care."

The report said the minister later attempted to clarify his comments, saying his comments had been "inappropriate" in a public forum and insisted he was talking only about his personal preference.

Almost a quarter of Japan's 128 million citizens are aged over 60 with the proportion forecast to rise to 40% over the next 50 years.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.